Three Vessels
by Arn-and-Friends
Summary: My own take on the second half of S2 Ep 37. An alternate version, so to speak that wouldn't get out of my head.


p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Three Vessels/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"A Critical Role fanfic/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"By Arn-and-Friends/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: 3pt dotted #00000a; border-bottom: 3pt dotted #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; padding: .01in 0in; line-height: 108%;"This is my imaging of what could have happened in Season 2, Episode 37. It diverges from the established story at approximately 2:38:00 of the live NYCC show. Captain Avantika has shown Fjord the eye in her hand, and Fjord has summoned the Falchion. Caleb is watching through Frumpkin./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: She immediately takes a step forward, like holding her palm forward, still, and not even looking at you, just looking at the sword and specifically focusing on the eye in the center of the hilt, and she's speechless for a moment, you hear her breathe in, suddenly./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Avantika: "Then perhaps it was destiny."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: She looks down at the eye in her hand, and you see the eye move. It swivels in her hand to look directly at her, and then it turns around, and looks directly at your sword. The eye seems to tremble for a moment. It looks directly at you, only for a moment, then looks back at Avantika. She nods, and then the eye looks straight up. It begins to open. The black of the pupil first expands to fill the entire iris, and then it continues. The black of the pupil flows out of the eye, seeming to form a shadow that fills her entire hand, and then grow even beyond her hand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt pauses for effect. The audience is cheering and 'woo'ing. Liam, as Caleb, is staring straight ahead, shock in his face. Marisha, as Beau, is beating on his shoulder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Marisha as Beau: "What? What's happening?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Liam as Caleb. "Ow. Please stop, I'm trying to see."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: The shadows in Avantika's hand coalesce in a shape. A rectangular shape, and it begins to form details. You watch, as it takes more distinctive shape, in the form of a book. A dark, waterlogged book, with a little seaweed on it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt pauses again, and the audience cheers./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Avantika: "This, this is my blessing. This Book of Shadows came to me many years ago, and has imparted to me many powerful secrets."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Liam as Caleb: "She… she has a spellbook."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Marisha, Laura, and Sam all gasp, and say together: "She's a wizard?!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Liam as Caleb: "I don't know…"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: Caleb, roll an Arcana check. With disadvantage, since you're sensing this through Frumpkin./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Caleb rolls fairly high despite the disadvantage./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: You of course know what a spellbook looks like, and while this is similar, it's also very different. You are able to discern that this book is not mundane in nature. It was not created by a wizard through years of study. It's more like, it was created by a supernatural being, to resemble a wizard's spellbook. But it's not really a book at all. It's a, a presence, that's imitating a book./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: Fjord, Captain Avantika gingerly opens the book, and you see what appear to be damp pages, with strange writing upon them. Even though you're viewing it upside down, you can still tell that these lettering, these characters, would never make any sense to you. You get the strong sense that Captain Avantika is the only person capable of reading this book./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Avantika: "I thought I would have to undergo the Blessing alone. But with the Blade and the Tome together, we are sure to have a strong enough connection with Uk'otoa to succeed."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis and Fjord: "Do you know what will happen, if we…"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Laura: makes a clicking noise. "Sorry…"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: 3pt dotted #00000a; border-bottom: 3pt dotted #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; padding: .01in 0in; line-height: 108%;"From there it continues the same, Avantika describes the three temples, the blessing, they discuss the words that the eye says, nearly make out but don't, and Fjord returns to the group. The Mighty Nein discuss what happened in much the same manner, until about 2:44:30, When Fjord describes the eye in Avantika's hand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "A… fuckin eye... in her hand. And then, it turned into a book."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Laura, as Jester, shudders./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "I know. Like, I showed her mine, and she showed me hers. Eyes! Like on the sword, and, in the book."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Liam as Caleb: "That book, it's likely very powerful. But it's not a true wizard's spellbook, it's something else."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Yeah, I got the sense that it would only allow her to read it."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Sam as Nott: "So it's like your sword then, it comes when she calls it, and only she can use it."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjorde: "I guess so."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Sam as Nott: "Did you tell her the orb was inside of you?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 3pt dotted #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;"Travis as Fjord: "I did not."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Same as the real stream, with the examination of Fjord's abs, Caleb witnessing Avantika placing her blood on the altar, discussion of Vandren and the possibility that Avantika killed him, with Fjord placing the blame for that upon Sabien. The conversation goes to the "One other chosen", and then to Mollymauk's tattoos, then having power over the seas, and the dick joke./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 3pt dotted #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;"Jester's hateful drawings of Avantika, Caleb's concerns over Fjord's motivations, and the party agreeing to proceed with caution and call it a night all proceed the same, until about 2:57:45, when Fjord's dream would have begun. Instead, we get this:/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Finding yourself into an evening of rest, as you're beginning to drift off, everyone make a perception check, with disadvantage./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Sam: Oh shit, we're gonna get murdered./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Everyone rolls, some fairly well, but nobody crits. Fjord rolls low./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: OK. So. Fjord. You settle into your bunk, and for a moment, take in the surroundings. You have darkvision, so you can fairly clearly see what's around you, but you're also about to pass out, your guard is down, so you're not being very perceptive./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis: Oh god./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: Around you is a simple ship's bunk, which you're used to sleeping in, with wooden bulkheads, pockmarks, old nails that were used as hooks./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis: Sure./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: But you notice, very close to your face, a tiny hole, where maybe there was once a nail, a shadow moving in the hole. Something starts to emerge, and it first you think it might be a weevil or a termite, which are always a problem on ships, but then you realize it's a caterpillar./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis: OK…/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: This little caterpillar inches its way out of the hole, wiggling a little, and slowly moves a little closer to you. Do you do anything?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis: Not yet…./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: The little creature bends half it's body, forming a ninety-degree angle. It's upper body sticks out, about an inch, and as you watch, the colorations on the caterpillar's body begin to form into eyes. Not animal eyes, but what appear to be human eyes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis: Oh goddammit!/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: The eyes look at you, and then almost immediately, a mouth forms below the eyes, and it speaks. A tiny voice says,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt takes on a slightly higher pitched, nasal, almost robotic voice, with irregular pauses: "Hello, Fjord. We need to talk."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt pauses while the audience cheers. Travis curses. Laura and Liam are wide-eyed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Liam: and we don't hear that?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: Some of you rolled decent perception checks, but you'd need a 30 to see a caterpillar, in the dark, from across the room. As for hearing, I'll get to that in a moment. Fjord, the creature continues./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the creature: "I have taken the liberty of surrounding us in a field of silence, so that we can speak without attracting attention. You may, of course, wish to inform your friends of my existence later, but for now, let's not involve them. There is also, of course, the chance that Captain Avantika is also listening."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Sam is holding up one finger and wiggling it whenever Matt speaks as the creature./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Uh, OK. Um, quick question, what the fuck?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the creature: "As I'm sure you have surmised by now, I am not a caterpillar."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The audience laughs and Matt lets them quiet down before continuing./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the creature: "I am a Demon. A Quasit, specifically."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The audience erupts in cheers and Matt waits again./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "I am a lesser demon, with little power except to change shape, and to offer greater power to those I serve. I am here, mostly, in the interests of revenge. Revenge upon Captain Avantika."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Why?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "There are three Vessels of Uk'otoa, Fjord. The Blade, the Tome, and the Chain. Avantika carries the Tome, and you carry the Blade, which was previously carried by your captain, Vandren. Your shipmate Sabien carried the Chain, and while he did, I was attached to him. The Chain, and what remains of Sabien's corpse, now lie at the bottom of the Lucidien Ocean."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Sabien…"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "Yes, Sabien. You see, Avantika and Sabien were allies. They agreed to work together, and kill Vandren, but Avantika arraigned matters to kill Sabien as well. Sabien was, of course, very cautious of betrayal, thanks in part to my counsel. But Avantika used non-magical means to bring about his death. I suspect she embedded grains of gunpowder in to the fuse of the bomb Sabien was carrying, and so it burned in a matter of seconds, rather than the full minute Sabien expected."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Why? Why kill Sabien, or even Vandren, for that matter?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "To eliminate a rival. Though the Blessing is difficult to perform with only one Vessel, success means that she is the only recipient of Uk'otoa's power. She also likely thought that she could recover either the Blade or the Chain, and impart them to a more trustworthy ally, more a servant than a partner. How fortunate for her that you have arrived."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Uh-huh. You're saying I shouldn't trust her."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "Of course not."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "But why should I trust you?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "Fjord, I am a demon of corruption and mischief. Of course you shouldn't trust me!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The audience laughs./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "I am not here to serve Uk'otoa, or even you, for that matter. I was brought here by the Chain, and by Sabien, both of which are now gone. My only interest in this is revenge upon Avantika. I have been waiting, hiding on this ship, for over a year, looking for an opportunity to foul Avantika's plans. You are the perfect means for me to do so."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Uh-huh."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "Act as you wish, but you would be a fool to trust her. If you decide tomorrow to turn against her, I can aid you. Simply call upon me, and I can call for aid from others."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "What others?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "Other demons, of course. I can summon them into this world to aid you. There will be a price to pay for such assistance, have no doubt, but if you time it right, and use their aid to gain the power of Uk'otoa, you will be able to pay such a price with ease."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The audience make low murmurings and 'ooooo's./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "And if I wanted your help, how would I call you?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as the Quasit: "You may speak my name, which is Ix'l'tik."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Everyone goes to write that down. Matt spells it for them. "That's I, X, apostrophe, L, apostrophe, T, I, K."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Sam: Of course it is. A demon's name, wow, that's really powerful./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Ix'l'tik: "That is not my true name, of course."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt stares at Sam as the audience laughs./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Ix'l'tik: "A demon's true name is not so freely given. But you may use that name to call for my aid."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "OK."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Ix'l'tik: "There is also another option. If you can make your escape from this island, perhaps by stealing Avantika's ship, I could guide you to the Chain. Help you recover it from the bottom of the sea. You could impart it upon one of your allies, perhaps the wizard. And with the Chain and the Blade together, the two of you would be strong enough to defeat Avantika, and perform the Blessing yourselves."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "I don't think Caleb would be inclined to that."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Ix'l'tik: "I could help you convince him."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The audience ooooo's again. Liam is pretending to sleep./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Travis as Fjord: "Well, I'll consider your offer, and I'll call upon you if needed. Are you, you're a caterpillar, are you gonna be able to get around on the island without help?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: The caterpillar's mouth makes a creepy, toothy grin, and starts growing bigger. It fills the entire body, then begins growing outside the body, and in a moment, there stands a tiny little demon creature, with arms and legs, and horns and a tale. It looks like this./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt shows them a picture of a Quasit from the Monster Manual. Travis shudders. Sam nods./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Sam: Sure, sure./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt as Ix'l'tik: "I can make my own way, thank you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Matt: The creature then turns invisible. You get the sense it's gone, but of course, you can't be sure./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 3pt dotted #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;"Travis: Fucking fuck./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Then the dream happens, the morning after, same as the real stream./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;" /p 


End file.
